There's a homemade doll on the JOC floor with a note that says "I will eat your soul" pinned to it.

No, really.  There is. 

Quote of the week:

Ben: "Only in Afghanistan, and maybe Detroit, is it perfectly acceptable to have guns and body armor piled against the table at a restaurant." 
Me: "...Detroit." 
Ben: "Have you ever been to Detroit?!"

As promised from weeks ago - a picture of all the women at the Afghan/Coalition meetup!  aka my field trip:

So the big news this week is that the ISR Conference is over...yaaaaay!  The whole thing was a bit of a weird experience for me.  The planning and doing prep for the thing is not difficult.  Herding cats, especially the ones that are Lieutenant Colonels...that's difficult.  Someone else here (based on a few situations, not just this one) has decided that people can't digest anything more than 140 characters anymore and I am starting to agree.  I am convinced that people did not actually read the paragraph long emails, based on the questions I got over and over and seeming inability of several people to read a map.  Also, for future reference: if you do not ask me to pick you up at the PAX terminal, or even tell me when you're landing...I'm not going to be there.  And if it's at 6pm I'm probably going to be eating dinner.  Just sayin. 

Nevertheless...it went well, methinks.  And I met some cool people, saw some friends, and did not tell any senior officers where to go.

Srsly tho.  LtCols.  Apparently just because you're an FGO doesn't mean you're a capable adult.

Sometimes I don't have nearly enough respect for rank...oops

Which, this job hasn't necessarily helped.  I may or may not be a little too comfortable telling Colonels what I think.  And occasionally what to do.  I'm not sure how I keep getting away with it. 

All the Christmas care packages are arriving.  SO MUCH JUNK FOOD.  And the guy in front of me has figured out that I will take any and all fruit snacks.  This is also the guy who brings back a bunch of cookies from the dining facility every day and says he's trying to make everyone else fat so he looks better by comparison.  I think he's mostly joking.  But I must stay motivated...working out yes, chocolate no.  Not even the homemade minty-caramel-dark chocolates aaaaggghhhhh.  No Sarah.  Burpee pull-ups, not chocolate.

My workout #2 partner made/let me design the workout we did last nite.  It was fun.  I think she hated me for a minute.  She hates all the moves I like.  The result was:

3x rounds of:
max box jumps
30x scottie bobs (@ 25 lbs)
max pull ups
15x back squats (@ 115lbs)
max incline situps (w/ 25lb plate) 
25 dips

It was a good time.  My arms hurt.  But I still managed to get my hair into a proper bun this morning so we're good.

In honor of my return home in less than a month, and eventual layover in Manas for who knows how long, this one's for you, Cassie:

What we learned this week:

- I am not a grown up because I don't do a Christmas letter.  Or even mail out Christmas cards...

- You can't give someone instinct in a turnover.

- You also can't make them comfortable dealing with Colonels and Generals all the time.  No matter how much you tell them it's not a big deal and to chill out.

- People tell me things and I don't know why.  When I figure that out, it'll be a blog post in and of itself.

- Sometimes a 3 line email letting you know you're doing a good job makes your day.  Or a few days.

- It takes roughly 24 hours to transfer the entirety of the share drive from one external hard drive to another.

And now it's time to sleep!  Goodnite all...I'll cya around.

-S.